ALICE COOPER – The Sound of A (2018 Ear Music EP)
“The Sound of A” is in the air…but it took 50 years to get there!
Alice Cooper’s Paranormal was one of the most delightful rock releases of 2017, which really came as no surprise. Alice has been consistently awesome for several albums in a row. Any time he works with producer Bob Ezrin, you can count on quality. The new five track Sound of A EP is quality.
The song “The Sound of A” was written in 1967 by Alice and bassist Dennis Dunaway. When Cooper reunited with members of the original band for some songs on Paranormal, Dunaway suggested revisiting “The Sound of A”. With Bob Ezrin’s help, “The Sound of A” has become another in a long line of understated Cooper classics. It has the sound of Welcome to My Nightmare with a hint of the present. Another apt (but coincidental) comparison would be “Journey of 1,000 Years” by Kiss.
“The Sound of A” is packaged with four unreleased live songs: “The Black Widow”, “Public Animal #9”, “Is It My Body” and “Cold Ethyl”. Of these, the real treat is “Public Animal #9”, an old School’s Out favourite that has never seen release on any Alice live album. This is from Columbus Ohio in May 2017. As is often the case, “The Black Widow” is shortened live, but “Public Animal” is damn fine. Can you believe it took this long to get a live version? It’s one of the best on School’s Out, albeit in the shadow of a big hit. Even “Cold Ethyl” is hard to find live. You can locate it on 2011’s No More Mr. Nice Guy via Concert Live, and the semi-official Extended Versions and Alone in His Nightmare.
Don’t miss The Sound of A. Consider it a live EP with some stuff you’ll be glad to have.
4/5 stars
mikeladano.com 
Does the A stand for awesome? While it reminds me quite a lot of “Welcome to My Nightmare,” I have to say that I’m impressed.
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I don’t know what the title means! I pretend it means Alice.
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It probably does.
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The lyrics don’t really help but I’m also still trying to figure out who “Steven” is!
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Maybe the A chord? But your guess is just as good!
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I didn’t realize a Public Animal live version didn’t previously exist. That does make this a little special. I might have to grab this one.
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I wasn’t sure but I checked my folder and it’s not in there. It could be a B-side or it could be on a broadcast CD. I asked Dale Sherman (he wrote the Alice Cooper FAQ) if he knows.
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Wow. I didn’t know it was written in ’67. Very cool.
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It just proves that an idea should never be thrown out.
Hell I based 6 years of writing on that theory.
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Cool, I didn’t even know about this. I love Public Animal. The whole School’s Out album seems to be overshadowed by the title track, and overlooked because it’s not quite as good as Love It to Death, Killer, or Billion Dollar Babies. I really love “Blue Turk” too, even though that seems to be a less favored cut. Great melody on that one.
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Dude! I LOVE School’s Out. It’s tied at #1 for me, with Welcome to my Nightmare. I agree about “Blue Turk” too. I love every single song.
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This is great, I enjoyed that track. Imagine sitting on a song for decades like that. Was it deliberate, or did he one day just go ‘hey, what’s on this old tape?’ Man oh man. I’m glad the live stuff is solid too. Cool beans!
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